Teenager 'capable of murder'

Lee Brown claims he suffered from a mental illness during the attack

A psychiatrist has dismissed claims that a teenager who raped and killed a grandmother was too mentally ill to be convicted of murder.

A jury at Northampton Crown Court was told 19-year-old Lee Brown was suffering from a psychopathic disorder when he attacked and killed 79-year-old widow Joan Biggs.

But consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Alexander Shubsachs said Mr Brown was not suffering from a mental illness strong enough to diminish his responsibility for his actions.

The teenager, who has pleaded guilty to burgling the pensioner's Northampton home on 27 January last year and then raping her, denies murder.

He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

On Thursday Dr Shubsachs, who interviewed Mr Brown, told the court the defendant was not suffering from a mental disorder.

"I think he had a psychopathic disorder," he said.

I thought he was of normal intelligence, not mentally impaired Dr Alexander Shubsachs

"It is a term which is rather difficult to make sense of, in that it describes people who are badly behaved or unreasonably aggressive".

He also told the trial judge, Mr Justice Goldring, the condition was not sufficient to avoid a possible murder conviction on the basis of sanity.

On Wednesday the jury was shown CCTV footage of Mr Brown being held at a police station on a charge unrelated to Mrs Biggs's death.

Dr Shubsachs said Mr Brown appeared calm and relaxed at the time, despite having killed Mrs Biggs only a few hours earlier.

The defence claims the attack was sparked by a severe case of his mental illness.

Low intelligence

Dr Shubsachs said Mr Brown's calm nature at the police station was "unbelievable" if he had been suffering from a mental illness.

"I know that people who are already mentally ill may have blips where they become more ill for a short period of time but they remain ill for a period of weeks," he said.

"A few hours later he looks perfectly normal in an interview."

Dr Shubsachs added when he first interviewed Mr Brown in August last year he thought the defendant was not mentally ill.

"I thought he was of normal intelligence, not mentally impaired," he said.

Psychologist Dr Gareth Hughes told the court earlier how IQ tests suggested Mr Brown was of low intelligence but did not fall into the "educationally sub-normal" category.

The jury has also heard from two other psychiatrists who disagreed on whether Mr Brown was suffering a mental illness at the time of the attack.